Wayne Academy
by Elizabeth Jay
Summary: The five Robins are prefect equivalents at a prestigious boarding school Wayne Academy that is 35% Battle School a la Ender's Game , 15% the Academy of Firefly fame, 40% Hogwarts, and 10% Miss Minchin's School for Girls. These are their adventures.
1. Strike a Delicate Balance

A/N: I had to squeeze their ages in order to justify all five attending school at the same time. Here, Damian is ten, Tim and Steph are fifteen, Jason is seventeen, and Dick is eighteen.

* * *

"With Ender we have to strike a delicate balance. Isolate him enough that he remains creative—otherwise he'll adopt the systems here and we'll lose him. At the same time, we need to make sure he keeps a strong ability to lead."

-Orson Scott Card; _Ender's Game_

* * *

An inarticulate howl was the first sign of dissention among the ranks, but it was shortly followed by the crashing open of Tim's dorm room door. The advent of a ten year old and ensuing slam were followed by yet more howling.

"You're dead, Baby Bat!"

"Jason!" Dick protested, mildly scandalized as he leapt up to cross the room and reinforce the door. "He's practically your brother!"

"He is my brother! And that gives me the right to kill him," Jason shouted, still trying to shoulder the door open. "As many times as I want to!"

Damian had taken the opportunity to scale Dick, and from his current perch on the older boy's shoulders, he continued to taunt Jason through the door. Something about the color pink …

Despite all the commotion, Tim sat quietly at his desk and continued working on his homework with the inner zen of an entire temple. Steph admired that amount of obliviousness; she really did.

Then the door gave way and Dick stumbled backwards, dropping Damian onto the bed. Steph couldn't help herself. She squeaked as the littlest one put her between him and the oncoming mountain of furious Jason Todd.

The sound made Jason freeze, but he shook it off. He was still angry, and still determined to inflict pain and/or misery on the youngest Robin. "Give him up, Steph," he demanded, looming over them.

Bravely, Steph raised her arms to bar the way. "No." Damian promptly wrapped his arms around her neck as if he were a normal affectionate child, but Steph had been a Robin long enough to recognize cold calculation and emotional manipulation. So help her, if Damian was making faces behind her back, she would serve him hog-tied on a silver platter to the older Robin. "Not without good reason," she amended.

Damian huffed, and sat back with injured dignity. The youngest of them was half-cat and half hell-spawn.

Jason sputtered, and started looking around for support. Dick shrugged from where he lay sprawled on the floor, and Tim was still ignoring them magnificently.

It was just another day at the Wayne Academy.


	2. More Important Things

**A/N:** I had to squeeze their ages in order to justify all five attending school at the same time. Here, Damian is eight (not yet a student), Tim and Steph are thirteen, Jason is fifteen, and Dick is sixteen.

* * *

"Books! And cleverness! There are more important things—friendship and bravery."  
-J. K. Rowling; _Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone_

* * *

When it came to Wayne Academy, there was a select group of scholarship students in power. Their position demanded three things: remarkable grades, devoted involvement in student activities, and a personal commitment to serve the other students. The third clause had to be sworn to the Headmaster, Bruce Wayne, himself. It was called a Round Robin. It was from this clause that the scholarship students took their collective name: the Robins.

Steph wanted one of those scholarships the way most girls her age still secretly wanted a pony. Not for the money, but to be a Robin like her secret heroes, Dick Grayson and Jason Todd. Steph had always wanted to be a Robin. Not just any Robin, but the first female Robin ever.

The perfect person to help her? Tim Drake, third Robin, a certified genius, and possibly perfect … an indivdiual who just so happened to be in three out of Steph's eight classes.

The trick was to find time in Tim's busy schedule for the tutoring. When he wasn't in class, Tim had extra mixed-martial arts lessons to attend, Robin duties to perform, his own grades to maintain, and a babysitting job to juggle on top of it all.

When Steph learned that Tim was responsible for little Damian Wayne on Wednesday and Friday afternoons, it seemed perfect. She could watch the kid so that Tim could study—thereby freeing up time for the other teen to tutor Steph later. Really, it was two birds with one stone. Not only would she gain a tutor, she would have the opportunity to make a good impression on Headmaster Wayne.

Then Steph actually met Damian.

Tim showed up with the eight year old on a leash the first day, and really that should have been Steph's first clue. But she couldn't help it … usually she was so good with small children!

"Hi!"

Steph actually found it endearing that Damian promptly hid behind Tim. Again, she hadn't fully grasped the threat quite yet.

"Hey, Steph," Tim smiled, peeling the kid off of him. "This is Damian. He really likes cats and sharp things, but don't worry. He's had all of his shots. Oh, and if you change your mind, that's totally okay. I've always got my cell," he waved said-object.

"But I thought that phones weren't allowed in the library," Steph frowned, reaching out to take the proffered leash.

"No, it's fine. Mr. Nygma makes an exception for me."

"Drake, you had better not leave me—"

Steph crouched to Damian's level, cutting him off with a bright smile. "Don't worry, sweetheart. Tim will be back soon. And we're going to have fun today," she promised. "There's a little student carnival set up on the lawn."

"Drake!"

Tim winced, shouldering his satchel. "Good luck. Call me if you need me. I can be here in five minutes."

Steph was a little impressed by how fast Tim could disappear into the crowd like that, but she had more important matters at hand. She turned to the little boy. "I don't think this will be necessary; do you?" And with that, Steph unclipped the leash. She was rewarded with a toothy smirk, and Steph smiled back, charmed.

She lost him in the first five minutes.

An hour later, Steph finally located Damian again. He was interfering with the poison-dart games, and the monitor for the booth was seconds away from swatting him like a bug. Steph took advantage of the distraction to swoop in from behind and seize her target around the waist.

It was like trying to hold onto a cat.

"Put me down, Fatgirl!" Damian demanded, wriggling and flailing in well-calculated strikes. Steph just tightened her grip, ducked her head, and waited for surrender. "I said put me down! Help! Stranger danger! Get her off of me, you moronic plebian!"

Cassandra Cain just smiled. "Friends with Tim," the dark-haired girl explained, resetting the targets for the next round of players. "Good luck, Steph."

"Thanks," Steph smiled back.

"Do you people even know who I am?!" her small charge howled. Judging by the crowd's rapid rate of evacuation, Steph would assume they indeed recognized the Wayne heir.

Surrender was obviously not happening, so she needed to look into containment options. There was an isolated moonbounce at the end of the row—apparently deemed too childish by most of the Wayne Academy students—that would serve her purpose.

Steph carted the violent eight year old over to the inflated device and shoved him inside, taking a step up to block the entrance with her perfectly-sized body, thank you very much.

"Now listen up, kiddo," she demanded. "I am going to babysit you on Fridays. That is not going to change just because you're an obnoxious runt. I'm not doing it for you. I'm doing it for me. And for Tim."

Damian sneered, clambering to his feet and tottering a few steps until he found his balance on the shifting surface. Steph gave him a gentle, but firm shove backward.

"If you need to act like a troll, so be it. I'll play the game, but fair warning: I don't play fair, and you are not going to stand between me and my dream. I'm going to be a Robin if I have to wrangle you twice a week from now until graduation. You can't scare me off."

Damian blinked. "You can't be a Robin; you're a girl."

_"Watch me."_


End file.
